Hi all, new here, though I have been lurking for a loooong time picking up all manner of useful and awesome information from everyone. I started working with royal icing seriously about a year ago, and my piping/decorating skills are finally at a point where I am confident and have people asking if I take orders (which I don't - too many limitations for me, such as school, clinical work, and having a cat who would be very affronted if I told her she had to leave my house so I could procure a cottage license here). I have a long way to go, but suffice it to say, I am pleased with my work at this point.
I was reading some of the woes of cookie bakers who have encountered people who don't seem to understand how much work goes into decorating and balk at "high" prices, and I thought I'd share a story of my own.
I am working on a second degree and as a consequence am involved in student organizations for the second time around, despite being "older." One of the clubs I am involved in wanted to put on a bake sale - which makes sense, since it's a club for food and nutrition majors - and I volunteered to bake something for them. It was close to Halloween, so I did a spiderweb design with wet-on-wet that you'll see floating around the internet and piped on a spider. I bagged them and tagged them with clear cellophane, ribbon, and a little felt Halloween charm - Hobby Lobby had everything pretty much on sale for 50% off, so that part was peanuts. I did two dozen cookies.
I dropped them off with a friend so the organization leader (who is also "older" like me) could pick them up since I had to rush off to class, and I found out later they sold them for $.50 a cookie!!!
My friend said the leader had taken a look, and asked how much she thought they should be sold for - my friend said "a couple dollars?" and the leader apparently made a face, and said "fifty cents."
I was infuriated. I admit that my motivation was partially selfish in that I wanted my peers to see my work and show off a bit, and that it was out of my hands once the bag went to the club, but $.50! I vented to my friend that I could have just given them $12 in cash. The bake sale was in an area with lots of administrators and professionals who I know would have spent $2 on a cookie, especially when it was supporting a student org. I was hoping to give the club a financial boost.
Of course they sold out in a matter of minutes, I'm told, and of course the leader bought two for herself.
Lesson learned here for me was either accept that the only benefit here is in getting to show off, or bake drop cookies instead and send them in a ziploc bag.
Just thought I'd share.
I was reading some of the woes of cookie bakers who have encountered people who don't seem to understand how much work goes into decorating and balk at "high" prices, and I thought I'd share a story of my own.
I am working on a second degree and as a consequence am involved in student organizations for the second time around, despite being "older." One of the clubs I am involved in wanted to put on a bake sale - which makes sense, since it's a club for food and nutrition majors - and I volunteered to bake something for them. It was close to Halloween, so I did a spiderweb design with wet-on-wet that you'll see floating around the internet and piped on a spider. I bagged them and tagged them with clear cellophane, ribbon, and a little felt Halloween charm - Hobby Lobby had everything pretty much on sale for 50% off, so that part was peanuts. I did two dozen cookies.
I dropped them off with a friend so the organization leader (who is also "older" like me) could pick them up since I had to rush off to class, and I found out later they sold them for $.50 a cookie!!!
My friend said the leader had taken a look, and asked how much she thought they should be sold for - my friend said "a couple dollars?" and the leader apparently made a face, and said "fifty cents."
I was infuriated. I admit that my motivation was partially selfish in that I wanted my peers to see my work and show off a bit, and that it was out of my hands once the bag went to the club, but $.50! I vented to my friend that I could have just given them $12 in cash. The bake sale was in an area with lots of administrators and professionals who I know would have spent $2 on a cookie, especially when it was supporting a student org. I was hoping to give the club a financial boost.
Of course they sold out in a matter of minutes, I'm told, and of course the leader bought two for herself.
Lesson learned here for me was either accept that the only benefit here is in getting to show off, or bake drop cookies instead and send them in a ziploc bag.
Just thought I'd share.
